Don Bradman’s scoring rates in relation to his team and opponents

 

Don Bradman consistently scored higher than his team Australia and his opponents in Test cricket. In his 52-Test career spanning 11 series, he scored at a rate of 3.70 runs per over, while Australia scored at 2.90 runs per over and opposing teams managed 2.30 runs. This is adjusted for six-ball overs as there were eight-ball overs during home series in 1936-37, 1946-47 and 1947-48. Balls faced by batsmen were not recorded during the 1930-31 and 1931-21 series, hence approximate scoring rates were arrived at based on over-rates.

In fact Bradman scored much faster than his team as well as opponents in every series except his last in 1948 against England when he scored at 2.77 runs per over, marginally less than his team’s rate of 2.79 but well ahead of England’s 2.32. In that series, Bradman scored at 29.08 runs an hour with an average of 21 overs bowled every hour. Bradman’s lowest scoring-rate was in his debut series in 1928-29 against England when he scored at a rate of 2.53 runs per over, which was still far ahead of Australia’s rate of 2.19 and England’s 2.30. Bradman clocked 28.50 runs per hour as an average of 22.50 overs an hour were wheeled down. These were the most overs bowled every hour during his career.

In his other nine series Bradman scored higher than 3 runs and 4 runs an over, and more than 30 and 40 runs an hour. In that landmark 1930 series in England when he amassed a record 974 runs, Bradman cruised at 3.69 runs an over. Australia averaged 2.71 runs per over, while England were marginally behind at 2.66. The highest scoring rate of Bradman’s Test career was in the next series in 1930-31 at home against the West Indies when he raced at 4.72 runs per over. Australia scored at 3.29 runs an over, while the West Indies eked out 2.37 runs. Bradman blasted 47.21 runs an hour while an average of 20 overs were sent down every hour.

The Don kept scoring merrily, much quicker than his team and the opponents, who were invariably slower than Australia. Doubtlessly, the Australian scoring rate was boosted by Bradman’s aggressive batsmanship. The lowest over-rate by opponents during Bradman’s career was in the Bodyline series in 1932-33 when England bowled just 16.71 over an hour. This might have been as a result of constant adjustment in field placings.

In sum, Bradman’s average of 3.70 runs per over during his Test career, churning out 37 runs an hour, was in an era when the bowlers clocked 20 overs an hour. Bradman hit up an average of 222 runs in a six-hour day. This helped Australia pile up 348 runs. Don Bradman was not just a run-machine as some would have it; he was an entertainer who turned his side into an all-conquering one. No wonder his 1948 team was called ‘The Invincibles’.

     

Bradman's 1948 Invincibles.

(Source: Indra Vikram Singh’s book ‘Don’s Century’, a cricketing biography of Don Bradman and a panorama of batting from the 1860s to present times).

Don’s Century

Published in India by Sporting Links

ISBN 978-81-901668-5-0

Fully illustrated

Paperback French Fold 11 x 8.5 x 0.4 inches

Weight 480 grams

188 pages

Available on Amazon at an attractive price: https://www.amazon.in/dp/8190166859  

Indra Vikram Singh's other books available on Amazon: 

https://www.amazon.in/s?k=Indra+Vikram+Singh&i=stripbooks&rh=p_6%3AA3HSV0N9AV7NOK&dc&qid=1602408830&rnid=1318474031&ref=sr_nr_p_6_1

Review of Indra Vikram Singh's book 'Don's Century' in The Hindu

(Author Indra Vikram Singh can be contacted on email singh_iv@hotmail.com).

Don’s Century

Published in India by Sporting Links

ISBN 978-81-901668-5-0

Fully illustrated

Paperback French Fold 11 x 8.5 x 0.4 inches

Weight 480 grams

188 pages

Available on Amazon at an attractive price: https://www.amazon.in/dp/8190166859  

Indra Vikram Singh's other books available on Amazon: 

https://www.amazon.in/s?k=Indra+Vikram+Singh&i=stripbooks&rh=p_6%3AA3HSV0N9AV7NOK&dc&qid=1602408830&rnid=1318474031&ref=sr_nr_p_6_1

 

On Don Bradman’s birth centenary, 27th August 2008, his biographer Indra Vikram Singh’s tribute in The Indian Express

The Indian Express

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Hundred years on, Bradman’s genius can still inspire

by

Indra Vikram Singh

On Don Bradman’s centenary, a fitting tribute is to assess his real greatness, moving beyond the mountains of statistics and records that are often used to highlight his achievements. Len Hutton wrote in his Fifty Years in Cricket: “It was fashionable to say that The Don was unorthodox, a law unto himself, and that his bat was not as straight as it ought to have been. But his movements were so right and so emphatic. To the straight good-length ball he would either go forward or back with precise judgement, never across the pitch, and at the crucial moment, his bat would be as straight as a Scotch fir.”

KS Duleepsinhji averred in Indian Cricketer Annual 1954: “Will there be another like him? I doubt it. His highly developed cricket sense helped him to make up his mind regarding the stroke in a split second, after the ball left the bowler's hand. With his large repertoire of strokes, he always found gaps in the field. The opponents always found eleven fielders too few. His fast rate of scoring gave bowlers plenty of time to dismiss their opponents. ‘Bradman is batting’ — at those magic words people would rush to the ground.”

Alec Bedser bowled to Bradman only after the war when the great man was past his prime, but still a run-getter beyond compare. He wrote in The Cricketer International: “My one regret was not to see him at his peak when, as the great Test umpire Frank Chester told me, fielders were wont to whistle with astonishment at the sheer brilliance and audacity of his stroke-play. One of his striking attributes was the way he made full use of the space from the popping crease to the stumps.”

Even during the Bodyline series when Bradman’s average ‘plummeted’ to 56.57, it was still the best for Australia, and second only to England's Eddie Paynter’s 61.33 who had two not outs in five innings. And Bradman scored at almost 40 runs an hour, hitting a hundred in one Test and half-centuries in the other three. Stan McCabe might have been the more aesthetic while dealing with the scourge of Bodyline, but Bradman was as effective, and certainly more prolific and consistent.

To dub The Don as merely a run-machine is simplistic because machines do not have minds. Among Bradman's several attributes was a very strong mind. In the 1936-37 Ashes series he was returning to the Test arena after a near-death experience, at the helm of a weak team that had lost several stalwarts. And England won the first two Tests. For most others it would have been too much to endure. But The Don did something, well, Bradmanesque. He scored 270, 212 and 169 in the remaining three Tests, winning all of them and retaining the crown. Nothing daunted him, and his story is so hugely inspirational as much for the massive odds he battled so successfully, as for the phenomenal number of runs he made.

Or let us fast forward to 1946-47, to the first series after the war. Unwell and ageing, he carved out 187 and 234 in the first two Tests, winning both, establishing ascendancy and breaking the English back. Maybe we can rewind to 1934, the first series after the Bodyline mayhem. Bradman was not in good health. He still got his customary double century in the opening match. Then, after a lean run in the first three Tests and the series precariously placed at 1-1, The Don scored 304 and 244 in the last two Tests, winning the final one and wresting the Ashes. That was character, a very tough mind and great skill, something far beyond the capability of any machine ever invented.

What was that one quality that made Don Bradman such a champion. The one most qualified to shed light was his wife Jessie: “More than anything, it was his single-mindedness; the ability to concentrate on any innings from the moment he woke up in the morning.” The key word here is focus. Let that remain the last word.

(Indra Vikram Singh is the only Indian biographer of Don Bradman. His forthcoming book Don’s Century is scheduled to be released shortly).

Don’s Century

Published by Sporting Links

ISBN 978-81-901668-5-0, Fully Illustrated

French Fold 21.5 cm x 28 cm, 188 Pages

Price Rupees 995

Indra Vikram Singh’s latest books published by Sporting Links:

A Maharaja’s Turf  ISBN 978-81-901668-3-6

The Big Book of World Cup Cricket  ISBN 978-81-901668-4-3

Don’s Century  ISBN 978-81-901668-5-0

Crowning Glory  ISBN 978-81-901668-6-7

Distributed in India by:  Variety Book Depot, AVG Bhawan, M-3 Middle Circle, Connaught Circus, New Delhi-110001, India. Tel. + 91 11 23417175, 23412567, Email varietybookdepot@gmail.com.

Author Indra Vikram Singh can be contacted on email singh_iv@hotmail.com. Follow Indra Vikram Singh on Twitter @IVRajpipla.

My tribute to the original little master Hanif Mohammad. Excerpt from my book ‘Don’s Century’

From another corner of the earth came Hanif Mohammad. Renowned for occupying the crease for long periods, he surpassed Bradman’s record first-class score of 452 not out, piling up 499 runs for Karachi versus Bahawalpur in 1958-59 on home ground before running himself out in his quest to reach a milestone that only Brian Lara did 35 years later. Hanif was a prodigy and by far the best Pakistan batsman of his time. Hailing from a family of five cricketing brothers, four of whom played for Pakistan - Hanif’s son Shoaib too played Test cricket - Hanif’s name was synonymous with Pakistani batting until the likes of Majid Khan, Zaheer Abbas and Javed Miandad began performing their sterling deeds on the international stage.

If Sachin Tendulkar toured Pakistan in 1989 at the tender age of sixteen, Hanif had came to India as a regular opener with his country’s first Test team in 1952-53 when he was just seventeen. In the inaugural first-class match against North Zone, Hanif scored 121 and 109 not out. Later he made a superb unbeaten 203 versus Bombay. He showed immense promise in the five Tests, scoring 51 on debut at the Ferozshah Kotla. He was unlucky to miss his maiden Test hundred by just four runs in the third Test at the Brabourne Stadium, and carved out another half-century in the final Test at the Eden Gardens.
                              

The epitome of sound technique and intense concentration, he left such a profound impression on Indian minds that, it is said, the distinguished Bombay coach Vasu Paranjpe used him as a model when he was mentoring Sunil Gavaskar in the 1960s. It is a fascinating tale of the two little masters of the sub-continent, and Hanif went on to establish several records for his country. He played what is still the longest innings in Test cricket, against the West Indies at Bridgetown in 1957-58, progressing to 337 in what is officially accepted as 16 hours and 10 minutes, but what was earlier believed - and still maintained by Hanif - to be 16 hours and 39 minutes. In first-class cricket, Himachal Pradesh captain Rajiv Nayyar played a longer innings against Jammu and Kashmir at Chamba only in 1999-2000, occupying the crease for just five minutes under 17 hours in his leisurely 271.

Hanif notched up centuries in each innings - 111 and 104 - of the Dacca (now Dhaka) Test of 1961-62 against England. His 12 Test hundreds were a record for his country at the time, as was his aggregate of 3915 runs at an average of 43.98 in his 55 Tests, 11 as captain. In first-class matches Hanif logged up the most runs in a Pakistan season, 1250 at an average of 59.52 in 1961-62. Hanif was indeed the pioneer among classy Pakistani batsmen and in terms of technical proficiency the forbear to Mohammad Yousuf.

(Author Indra Vikram Singh can be contacted on email singh_iv@hotmail.com

Follow Indra Vikram Singh on Twitter @IVRajpipla).

Don’s Century

Published by Sporting Links

ISBN 978-81-901668-5-0, Fully Illustrated

French Fold 21.5 cm x 28 cm, 188 Pages

Price Rupees 995

Indra Vikram Singh’s latest books published by Sporting Links:   

A Maharaja’s Turf  ISBN 978-81-901668-3-6   

The Big Book of World Cup Cricket  ISBN 978-81-901668-4-3   

Don’s Century  ISBN 978-81-901668-5-0   

Crowning Glory  ISBN 978-81-901668-6-7

Distributed in India by:  Variety Book Depot, AVG Bhawan, M-3, Middle Circle, Connaught Circus, New Delhi-110 001, India. Tel. + 91 11 23417175, 23412567, Email varietybookdepot@gmail.com.

Excerpts from Indra Vikram Singh's book 'Don's Century' ..... 26 - Chapter 7 : PEERLESS RUNGETTER AND OTHER MASTERS OF THE WILLOW (31. Aravinda de Silva)

Sri Lanka’s Aravinda de Silva, on the other hand, was a gifted batsman. During the early stages of his career he would play brilliant cameos before throwing his wicket away through poor shot selection. For this he was called ‘Mad Max’. Gradually he learnt to temper himself and matured into one of the most exciting strokeplayers of modern times. In many ways, one felt, he was a more aggressive version of Gavaskar.

In fact the Indian maestro was initially an attacking player, with a penchant for the hook shot. But after the first flush of his memorable maiden series, when success became harder to come by, Gavaskar developed into an accumulator of runs, rather than a destroyer of bowling. De Silva retained the sparkle, though it has to be said that he was a middle-order batsman who could indulge in strokeplay with greater freedom than Gavaskar whose primary task was to see off the new ball and take away the sting from those menacing pacemen. Gavaskar and de Silva were of similar stature, maybe the latter was even a wee bit shorter, both compact and well balanced and similarly correct in strokeplay.

De Silva would drive in glorious fashion through the covers, or cut off the back foot, and was quick to hook or pull the short ones. When he got into the groove he was liable to pull off a string of big scores. His highest Test score of 267 came against New Zealand in 1990-91, the same match in which Martin Crowe registered his personal best of 299. De Silva scored centuries in each innings of a Test twice, against Pakistan at the Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo in 1996-97, when he was unbeaten in both innings, and against India on the same ground the next season.

His most prolific year was 1997 when he amassed 1220 runs at an average of 76.25 with 7 hundreds, the most since Vivian Richards got as many 21 years earlier. In his 93 Tests, de Silva logged up 6361 runs at an average of 42.97 with 20 centuries.

The 1996 World Cup was memorable for de Silva’s superb strokeplay. His 91 against Zimbabwe was followed by 145 versus Kenya, the highest for Sri Lanka in a One-dayer. In the semi-final he hit 66 of the 85 runs scored while he was in, against India. In the final he brought up victory with his unbeaten 107. That was in addition to his stint of three for 42 with the ball. He was man-of-the-match in the semifinal as well as final. If the player-of-the-tournament award had not been decided before the semi-finals, it would surely have gone to de Silva. In the latter half of the nineties, de Silva was doubtlessly one of the three best batsmen in the world, the others being Tendulkar and Lara. There is nothing more to be said.

(Author Indra Vikram Singh can be contacted on email singh_iv@hotmail.com).

Indra Vikram Singh’s latest books 

published by Sporting Links:

A Maharaja’s Turf   ISBN 978-81-901668-3-6

The Big Book of World Cup Cricket   ISBN 978-81-901668-4-3

Don’s Century   ISBN 978-81-901668-5-0

Crowning Glory   ISBN 978-81-901668-6-7

Available online on several websites.

Distributed in India by :  

Variety Book Depot 

AVG Bhawan, 

M-3, Middle Circle, Connaught Circus,

New Delhi-110 001, India. 

Tel. + 91 11 23417175, 23412567.

Excerpts from Indra Vikram Singh's book 'Don's Century' ..... 25 - Chapter 7 : PEERLESS RUNGETTER AND OTHER MASTERS OF THE WILLOW (30. Steve Waugh)

Steve Waugh was different; cool of mind and stout of spirit, he was a fighter to the core. He left arguably the biggest impact on the game in Australia since Bradman. His predecessor Allan Border was also a gritty batsman, and became the highest run-getter in Test cricket. But Border would grind the opposition, rather than dominate them, and the one feature that characterised his batting was his propensity to sweep. When the chips were down Border would be an immovable object for the opposition, but there was nothing endearing about him.

That was not the case with Steve Waugh. He was forever proving his critics wrong through sheer strength of character. His twin Mark was far more talented with the bat as well as a fielder, and more elegant by miles. But it was Steve who first broke into the Australian team and stayed in longer. He played a key role in Australia’s first World Cup triumph in 1987 as a bowler sans nerves, and a lower middle-order batsman with an abundance of commonsense. His stock as a batsman continued to rise, and he became a reliable rungetter by the late eighties.

It was under Border’s captaincy, and with the guiding hand of Bobby Simpson, that Australia won the 1987 World Cup, but try as he might he could not turn Australia into the best in the world in either form of the game. That changed when the more genial and composed Mark Taylor took over. Steve Waugh, helped by twin Mark, stood up to the West Indies pacemen in a titanic battle at Kingston in 1994-95, which was crucial for wresting the Test series 2-1, amazingly for the first time against these rivals in nine attempts since the heady days of 1975-76. In that Test Steve Waugh scored 200 and Mark Waugh 126.

Then Australia were runners-up in the 1996 World Cup, with Mark Waugh in delightful form, but Steve not too far behind with bat and ball. Steve Waugh first took over the One-day captaincy, and then the top job in Tests as well. The start belied what lay ahead as Brian Lara’s genius denied Australia a Test series win in the Caribbean in 1998-99, and then Steve Waugh’s team faltered in the early stages of the 1999 World Cup. But Australia were unstoppable once Waugh’s fighting hundred, aided by a gaffe in the field by Herschelle Gibbs, in their last super-six match, and subsequent tie in the semi-final, also against South Africa, breathed life into the team.         

They went on to lift the 1999 World Cup, and then carve an unprecedented 16 consecutive Test victories. Steve Waugh built one of the greatest teams in history, and his own batting continued to rise to greater heights. He scored an exhilarating century at Sydney in the 2002-03 Ashes series as a scathing riposte to his critics who wanted him out of the side. When he took his final bow a year later, he was given a touching farewell.

By then he was the most capped player ever at 168 Tests, Australia’s second-highest rungetter with 10,927 runs at an average of 51.06, and their top century maker with 32, surpassing Bradman’s tally. Steve Waugh never gave in, or gave up, the quintessential warrior always searching for new frontiers. He was strong on the back foot through the off-side, and played the slog sweep better than most. More admired than loved, he had no shot that would delight the connoisseur, but he was effective. He never learnt to deal with the rising delivery, but coped well enough. If ever there was a player with little natural ability, but achieved super success by dint of hard work, resilience and determination, it would have to be Steve Waugh.

(Author Indra Vikram Singh can be contacted on email singh_iv@hotmail.com).

Excerpts from Indra Vikram Singh's book 'Don's Century' ..... 24 - Chapter 7 : PEERLESS RUNGETTER AND OTHER MASTERS OF THE WILLOW (29. Martin Crowe)

Perhaps the best batsman New Zealand produced is Martin Crowe. A classical strokeplayer, Crowe offered a straight bat and a still head, and his exquisite timing enabled him to caress the ball to the boundary. He was fluent and very easy on the eye. One rates him so high not just because he became the highest rungetter with the best average, and notched the most centuries and top score, for his country in the 77 Tests that he played. He logged up 5444 runs at an average of 45.36 with 17 hundreds and a highest score of 299 against Sri Lanka at Wellington in 1990-91. These are fine figures, particularly for a batsman from New Zealand where the ball darts around. But Crowe’s batting transcended these numbers.

Stephen Fleming scored many more runs later, though at a significantly lower average, but he was nowhere as elegant or dominant as Crowe, nor so reliable. Fleming did not have a left-hander’s inherent grace, and his shot-selection invariably left a lot to be desired as he often lost his wicket after playing far too many cameos. Crowe had a touch of class and rarely gave the impression of being troubled by the bowling.

In One-day Internationals he scored 4704 runs at an average of 38.55, and his finest hour in this form came in the 1992 World Cup at home when he was captain. He inspired his team to seven consecutive wins before losing in the last round-robin match, and then the semi-final as well, to Pakistan each time. With the bat he was in brilliant touch, beginning with a superb 100 not out as New Zealand upset holders Australia, and then played more unbeaten innings of 74, 81 and 73, before being run out for 91 in the semi-final. Crowe hit 456 runs at an average of 114, to win the player-of-the-tournament award. Knee injury curtailed his career, but Martin Crowe shall remain one of the most classy strokeplayers the game has seen.

(Author Indra Vikram Singh can be contacted on email singh_iv@hotmail.com).

Excerpts from Indra Vikram Singh's book 'Don's Century' ..... 23 - Chapter 7 : PEERLESS RUNGETTER AND OTHER MASTERS OF THE WILLOW (28. Vivian Richards)

A batsman who many modern observers rate second to Bradman is Viv Richards. Sir Vivian was indeed king, monarch of all he surveyed in the sheer dominance of his strokeplay. He was mesmerised by Chandrasekhar on debut at Bangalore in 1974-75, and overshadowed by another first-timer Gordon Greenidge who nearly got a hundred in each innings. Richards set the record right in the very next Test.

I was fortunate to see that knock of his at the Ferozshah Kotla. At that time we knew nothing about the awesome strokeplay that he was capable of, but his power was certainly in evidence. One shot that has remained in my memory was the one he played while batting at the pavilion end. He hit one of the spinners straight and high, up above the big advertisement hoarding perched atop the stands, landing probably in the centre of the adjoining Ambedkar Football Stadium. I have never seen a cricket ball sailing that high ever again. Brijesh Patel, fielding at extra-cover, rolled his fingers around his eyes as though spotting the little spheroid with a pair of binoculars. It was a hit nobody ever forgets.

The other thing that I noticed was his dead-bat defence. Time and again during that long innings he would drop deliveries from the spinners Venkataraghavan, Prasanna and Bedi right under his eyes. He would then either bend down and pick up the ball, or tap it with his bat, passing it to the forward short-leg fielder Solkar. Whenever I hear people talk about Richards’ tremendous strokeplay, and how they felt he was vulnerable early in his innings because he whipped balls from outside his off-stump to the on-side, I always think back to that impregnable defence. Of course he was a blaster, but he was also a master for, like all the great players, he had a very good defence. People, particularly English ‘experts’, mocked at Bradman as well early in his career. Look what he did to them.

It was indeed a delight to see Richards bring up his first Test century and go on the rampage towards the latter stages, returning unconquered with 192. It was the beginning of the Richards saga. He was soon to become the best West Indies batsman and rule the world of cricket until he called it a day 16 years later.

When the just-appointed England captain Tony Greig made a stupid statement before the 1976 series that he would make the West Indies “grovel”, Richards took it as a personal affront. He hammered the English bowling like no one else had done since Bradman in 1930. He slammed 232 at Trent Bridge, 135 at Old Trafford and 291, his highest Test score, at the Oval, aggregating 829 runs at an average of 118.42 in four Tests. Later Australia’s Mark Taylor got 10 more runs in England in 1989. Nobody has scored so many for the West Indies in a Test series. That year he hit up 1710 runs (in just the first eight months) at an average of 90 in 11 Tests with 7 hundreds. No one had scored as many runs in a year. The opposition: the great pace bowlers of Australia, Lillee and Thomson at their height, among others; the celebrated Indian spinners; and the pace and swing in England. The king had been crowned. It took another batsman, Mohammad Yousuf of Pakistan, three decades to score more runs in a calendar year, 1788 with 9 hundreds, also in 11 Tests.

A decade later in 1985-86, Richards blasted the fastest recorded hundred in terms of balls. He brought up his century in 56 deliveries before delighted home fans at St. John’s, Antigua, against England.

Richards was the first batsman to dominate in Tests as well as One-day Internationals. If his electrifying fielding turned the World Cup final versus Australia in 1975, four years later his tremendous 139-run fifth-wicket stand with Collis King turned the second World Cup final. Richards scored 138 to raise a match-winning total. In 1984, also against England, he smashed the then highest-ever One-day International score of 189 not out. Michael Holding was a virtual bystander in an unbroken last-wicket partnership of 106. In 1987 he surpassed Kapil Dev’s World Cup record innings by crashing 181 off the Sri Lankan bowling at Karachi.

He took over the captaincy of the West Indies after Clive Lloyd retired in 1985 and under him the West Indies continued to rule world cricket in both its forms. They, however, could not reclaim the World Cup after the shocking defeat at the hands of India in 1983.

When he called it a day, Richards had surpassed Sobers’ highest Test aggregate for the West Indies, finishing with 8540 runs at an average of 50.23 with 24 hundreds. A brilliant fielder anywhere, he also overtook Sobers in terms of catches, clutching 122 of his own. Add to this 6721 runs in One-day Internationals with an outstanding average of 47, and a strike rate of 90.20, the first to aggregate 1000 runs in the World Cup, and we have inarguably the best batsman in both forms of the game put together until Sachin Tendulkar took over the mantle.           

Statistics, though, scarcely tell the tale of one of the most self-assured cricketers ever. Helmets came into the game early in Richards’ career but he shunned them even when confronted with the fastest of bowlers. He would walk out to the crease proudly wearing his maroon West Indies cap, head tilted at a jaunty angle, chewing gum, as if strolling in a park looking at the birds on the trees. He could have been a character straight out of wild west movies, aware of the danger but playing it cool, mind ever alert for a swift draw of his pistol. And, man, did he shoot them down, his powerful frame steering that heavy bat with great speed.

His haughty stance itself would put the jitters in the hearts of all but the most strong-hearted of bowlers. And then he would stun them by firing a bullet from outside the off-stump, screaming to the mid-wicket boundary before the startled fielders could even react. Yes, it was like a shot from a gun, not a stroke off a bat.

Richards made strokemaking look so natural, as if it were the easiest thing in the world. He would spot the ball early and then either take a big stride forward or rock back, or even step away to leg and whack the ball away. His stunning drives and pulls would leave the bowlers looking on in despair. Richards made a virtue of backing away to leg and hitting inside-out through the line. The desperation of the bowlers and fielding captains can then be imagined. To a ball pitched on or outside the off-stump, Richards could cream it across the line to the on-side; and to the delivery on or outside the leg-stump, he might loft it through the line on the off-side. If he chose to, he would just as well slam it in orthodox fashion. That is why captains were confused as to the field to employ, and the bowlers confounded regarding the line to bowl. That is also the reason why he scored so rapidly.

They said he was vulnerable early because he was not copybook. That is only an illusion thrown up by mere theorists. Which batsman is not vulnerable early in his innings? It he were that vulnerable, he would have been sorted out early in his career by the world’s best bowlers. Instead he sorted out the greatest bowlers through his long career. Vivian Richards was an original, just as Bradman was. That is why armchair critics picked holes in their techniques as if there were a law as to how one should bat. They would do well to remember that Bradman and Richards were a law unto themselves. Just look at the scorecards, and the outstanding results their teams achieved.

(Author Indra Vikram Singh can be contacted on email singh_iv@hotmail.com).

Excerpts from Indra Vikram Singh's book 'Don's Century' ..... 22 - Chapter 7 : PEERLESS RUNGETTER AND OTHER MASTERS OF THE WILLOW (27. Sunil Gavaskar)

Gavaskar’s arrival was indicative of the fact that Indian cricket had come of age. The spin quartet of Erapalli Prasanna, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, Srinivas Venkataraghavan and Bishen Singh Bedi were at the height of their powers. Gavaskar showed that fast bowling could not only be tackled but also scored off, in a prolific if not dominant fashion. Before him, Indian batsmen, with some notable exceptions, had the dubious reputation of stepping away to leg when confronted with genuine pace, and floundering against swing. Gavaskar changed it all.

There was a new captain at the helm, Ajit Wadekar, on that path-breaking tour of the Caribbean in 1971, ending at least for the time being the Pataudi era which had also begun in the West Indies nine years earlier. The signs were ominous as India won the second Test at Port of Spain by 7 wickets. It was India’s first victory over the West Indies in six series, home and away, and helped clinch the rubber, with the other four Tests drawn. Gavaskar scored 65 and 67 not out on debut, and gave solid starts in both innings along with Bombay (now Mumbai) colleague Ashok Mankad.

Two other Bombay stars made it a habit of pulling India out of troubled waters. In the first Test at Kingston, with India tottering at 75 for five, Dilip Sardesai (212) and Eknath Solkar (61) put on 137 runs to help raise a respectable total of 387. With no play on the first day, the follow-on could be enforced in the four-day Test with a lead of 150 runs, and Wadekar in his maiden Test as captain inflicted this ignominy on the hosts. The ageing Rohan Kanhai and skipper Garfield Sobers brought back memories of their halcyon days in a match-saving fourth-wicket partnership of 173 runs. Kanhai scored 56 and 158 not out, and Sobers 44 and 93. It seemed that the experienced middle-order would have to see the West Indies through, for the bowling was depleted, with Sobers having to bowl long stints.

It was not to be. Sobers and Kanhai did not fire in the second Test, and Clive Lloyd was a disappointment through the series. India won the Test with ease, heralding one of the happiest phases in their history, and marking the beginning of the end of Sobers’ days as leader. The brilliant side that he had inherited from Worrell, and which flowered under him in the mid-sixties, had all but disintegrated. In that triumph at Port of Spain, after Gavaskar’s promising debut, once again Sardesai (112) and Solkar (55) added 114 for the fifth wicket to give India a handsome first innings lead. Then as Wadekar, in a master-stroke, brought on the tall left-arm spinner Salim Durrani who castled Lloyd (15) and Sobers (0), India were on the road to victory. Gavaskar ultimately brought up the win in the company of Abid Ali.

That was the point when Indian cricket earned its self-respect, and emerged from the shadows onto the world stage. The man to show the way was the little opener. Rarely has one man done so much to change the fortunes of a nation’s sport. Inevitably, Gavaskar’s maiden Test century came in the next innings. He scored 116, once again laying a solid foundation to the Indian innings along with Mankad, and helping India take the first innings lead. It took an unbroken 170-run fourth-wicket stand between Charlie Davis and Sobers, unbeaten with 125 and 108 respectively, to save the day for the West Indies. Sobers’ declaration provided the opportunity to Gavaskar to score his third sixty. This time he clocked up an unbroken century stand with Mankad, worth 123 when stumps were finally drawn.

The only innings in which Gavaskar failed in the series was at Bridgetown when he was caught at mid-wicket off debutant paceman Uton Dowe for 1. Yet again Sardesai (150) and Solkar (65) retrieved the situation, this time from an even more abysmal 70 for six, faced with a huge West Indies score of 501 for five declared. Sobers had scored a monumental unbeaten 178 and put on 167 for the fourth wicket with Davis. On this occasion Sardesai and Solkar were associated in a 186-run partnership. The tailenders held on with Sardesai to save the follow-on. Sobers set India a target of 335 to win in a little over five hours. The run chase was never on and Gavaskar, in his own words, played “purely a defensive innings” of 117 not out, though he did fire a few rousing shots including a hooked six off Dowe. The Test was saved.

On the eve of the six-day final Test, again at Trinidad, Gavaskar developed severe toothache and spent a sleepless night. He had to wait for his troublesome tooth to be extracted till the Test was over and was denied pain-killers even at night on the plea that they would make him drowsy during play. Mankad had fractured his right wrist fending off a Dowe snorter in the second innings at Bridgetown, and his replacement Kenia Jayantilal broke his thumb in the intervening match at Dominica. As a result Abid Ali accompanied Gavaskar at the top of the order. Sobers, under pressure to square the series, opened the bowling, sending down a torrid spell. Abid Ali fell for 10 and Wadekar for 28. Gavaskar and Sardesai then put on 122, the little opener batting through the pain to score 124.

Sobers was indeed a determined man. He hit up 132, putting on 183 for the fifth wicket with Davis (105). West Indies piled up 526, a lead of 166. The pressure was on India. Gavaskar was now weak and worn out, still in pain, unable to eat or sleep properly, and having fielded for long hours in hot and humid conditions. Sobers was again sharp with the new ball, trapping Abid Ali early. Wadekar, though, helped Gavaskar add 148 runs.

The battle lines were drawn on the fifth day as Gavaskar soldiered on. He completed his second century of the Test to a huge ovation, with some of the spectators invading the pitch. He began the final day on 180, in very poor physical condition. And when he cover-drove Dowe to bring up his double hundred, all hell broke loose. The delirious crowd hoisted him high and literally played around with the little fellow. It was only the second time in Test history, after Doug Walters’ 242 and 103 against the West Indies in 1968-69, that a hundred and double hundred had been scored in the same game. Gavaskar had progressed to 220 when he finally chopped a ball on to his stumps. The next highest was Wadekar’s 54. Now at last Gavaskar could get his tooth extracted. It was a painstaking effort, literally, that ensured a landmark series triumph for the country. 

The West Indies needed 262 to win with time running out. In the end their ninth-wicket pair hung on precariously to eke out a draw. Such was Gavaskar’s memorable, and phenomenal, initiation in Test cricket. No one had scored so many runs, 774, on first appearance. That was in just four Tests, and his average of 154.80 would have made Bradman proud. The entire cricketing world was now talking about this 21-year-old. Over the next sixteen years Gavaskar earned the admiration and respect of players, critics and fans alike, and came to be rated as one of the greatest opening batsmen ever.

It might not have been a top-class West Indies bowling attack and Sobers may have dropped him on a couple of occasions, but Gavaskar displayed a wonderful technique, a wide range of strokes, patience, determination, resilience and a tremendous will to battle on in the face of acute physical discomfort. Surely, this little young man was out of the ordinary.

His great predecessor Len Hutton paid Gavaskar the ultimate tribute, naming one of the chapters of his book Fifty Years in Cricket, ‘Gavaskar and Other Greats’. Hutton wrote: “I have the feeling that if he had been born English or Australian, many of the better judges would have been tempted to bracket him with Bradman. Gavaskar is not as good as Bradman, but very close, which automatically puts him in the very highest class of batsmen of all time. He is a small, compact man, thicker set than Bradman, but of a similar height, and, like all the true champions, can play off both feet with equal facility. He uses a medium-weight bat and hits the ball hard enough with precise accuracy to beat the fieldsman, but not hard enough to knock it out of shape. He cuts, pulls and drives the half-volley beautifully, often through mid-wicket, and to back his natural accomplishments, he has the concentration, willpower and temperament of a record-breaker. I admire too, the positive and quick movements of his feet and the almost feline grace with which he gets into position to deal with the bouncer.”

That was high praise indeed from one who was a great opening batsman himself. Hutton rated Gavaskar’s 221 at the Oval in 1979 as one of the best double centuries he saw, which “should at the very least be bracketed with Stan McCabe’s 232 at Trent Bridge and Wally Hammond’s 240 at Lord’s (both in 1938).” That was certainly one of Gavaskar’s finest innings, as technically perfect as it could get.

In the fourth innings India needed an unprecedented 438 to win in 500 minutes. At stumps on the fourth day, India were 76 for no loss. There were 362 required in 360 minutes on the final day. Even the Indian fans, despite Gavaskar, thought it was improbable. Gavaskar and his partner, Chetan Chauhan batted on untroubled. By lunch they had taken the score to 169. When Chauhan was taken by Ian Botham off Bob Willis for 80, they had put on 213 runs. Dilip Vengsarkar joined his Bombay teammate. He too batted fluently. At tea India were 304 for one. Now there were 134 runs left.

I remember there was a large group of us who had booked tickets for a late night cinema in New Delhi. Ever the cricket diehard, I was not going to miss this one. I took my radio along. There I was in that dark theatre with the transistor pressed against my ear, straining to listen to BBC’s Test Match Special with the volume low. I did not follow much of the movie, with my mind’s eye far away in London following each ball as intently as Gavaskar would be watching it.

The movie began around the time the first of the twenty mandatory overs, in the last hour, was bowled. Just prior to this a worried English captain Mike Brearley had slowed down the over-rate. India were 328 for one; 110 needed at five-and-a-half runs an over. Gavaskar brought up his double century. With 12 overs left the score was 366 for one. Vengsarkar fell for 52, and then Kapil Dev for a duck. Gavaskar sailed along in the company of Yashpal Sharma. Then at 389, in a bid to raise the tempo, he lifted his on-drive just a bit and was gleefully snapped up at mid-on. Gavaskar’s innings was one of the epics of Test cricket.  A few more wickets fell, and in the end India were left 9 runs short of victory, England two wickets. It was a draw, but if draws can be so exciting, who needs results? Twenty-nine years on, I remember that magnificent knock vividly, though for the life of me I cannot recall the name of the movie. Maybe some day I will ask the young lady who was sitting next to me that exhilarating evening. Even today I can feel the thrill.

That is the joy of Test cricket, of following the deeds of great players, and indeed listening to good radio commentary. Radio commentary stimulated the mind, worked up the imagination, and transported one to a distant land. Live telecast is not always a good substitute, for instance you cannot watch it with a movie showing up ahead on a wide screen, nor while driving or in the middle of a forest or meadow. Internet, by comparison, is flat soda.

After the euphoria of his maiden Test series in 1971, Gavaskar took nearly five years to reproduce the kind of form expected of a top-ranking batsman. During that phase he appeared in four series, scoring 693 runs in 13 Tests at an average of 27.72, with one hundred, which was rated as one of his best, on a green wicket against a quality English attack in bitterly cold Manchester in 1974. Gavaskar resurrected his career during the tour to New Zealand in 1975-76 when he captained, and won, his first Test at Auckland in the absence of the regular skipper Bishen Singh Bedi. That was the Test in which the left-handed Surinder Amarnath emulated his father Lala Amarnath by scoring a century on Test debut. Gavaskar himself got a hundred, putting on 204 with Amarnath. Prasanna took eight wickets in the second innings to set up the victory.

Gavaskar’s love affair with Sabina Park, Port of Spain, was to continue in the series that followed. Returning to the venue of his heroics of five years earlier, Gavaskar scored 156 in the second Test. Had rain not washed out the first day’s play, India would have surely won the game. Incessant rain in Georgetown forced the next Test to be staged again at Port of Spain. West Indies, already 1-0 up, dominated the Test. Skipper Clive Lloyd declared his second innings at lunch on the fourth day, after Alvin Kallicharran had completed his century, setting India 403 to win.

Only once had a Test been won by a team scoring over 400 runs in the fourth innings. That was by Bradman’s Invincibles at Headingley in 1948 with The Don himself scoring a big hundred. Anshuman Gaekwad helped Gavaskar raise 69 upfront. Mohinder Amarnath came in, and at stumps India were 134 for one, with Gavaskar on 86.

Now there were 269 runs left with 9 wickets in hand, and the whole day’s play. The pitch was also holding up well. At breakfast in my New Delhi college, a cricketing mate and I agreed that India could, or rather would, do it. And so it turned out. Gavaskar brought up yet another hundred at Sabina Park, but fell soon thereafter for 102, with the total at 177. Amarnath (85) and Gundappa Viswanath (112) put on 159, and Brijesh Patel fired the final shots in his unbeaten 49. India won by six wickets, to draw level in the series.

Lloyd’s captaincy was now on the line. Having received a 1-5 drubbing at the hands of the Aussies only a few months earlier, this defeat had shaken the faith of the supporters. The infamous bloodbath of Kingston followed, and the West Indies clinched the series. Gaekwad was struck a frightening blow on the head, bringing back the nightmare of Bridgetown 1962 when Nari Contractor was hit by Charlie Griffith.

Such was the impact of Gavaskar’s batting on Indian cricket, and he certainly shook the West Indies then. He equalled Bradman’s record of 29 hundreds at New Delhi during the 1983-84 series against the West Indies. In the next Test at Ahmedabad he overtook Geoff Boycott’s record Test aggregate. It was in the sixth and final Test of that rubber at Madras (now Chennai) that Gavaskar hit up his, and at the time India’s, highest Test score of 236 not out, thereby bringing up his 30^th century. Sick of squaring up to thunderbolts throughout his career, Gavaskar asked to be allowed to bat at no. 4. Imagine, then, his shock when the fearsome Malcolm Marshall dismissed Gaekwad and Vengsarkar off successive balls in his second over without a run on the board.                                              

I recall the scene very clearly - Gavaskar rushing out to bat under his white floppy hat, the quaint skull cap peeping out, hurriedly putting on his arm guard and gloves. The first ball that Gavaskar received from Marshall was short and bounced chest high. Gavaskar got right behind and played a model back foot defensive stroke. Instantly, and instinctively, one knew that he was going to score big that day. Vivian Richards wandered past Gavaskar after Marshall had completed the fiery over, drawling ,”Maan, wherever you baat, the score is still zeero!” It told an eloquent tale.

At Ahmedabad, in the fourth Test against Imran Khan’s Pakistani touring team of 1986-87, Gavaskar climbed cricket’s Everest, becoming the first batsman to score 10,000 runs in Test matches. It was an unforgettable moment as he cut off-spinner Ijaz Fakih and ran head down with his bat held aloft. This was the second hitherto insurmountable peak that the little man had conquered after the 30^th hundred.

There was now just one Test left, the fifth and final one of the attritional series, which had so far provided no result. It was played on a rank turner at Bangalore. India needed 221 to win in the fourth innings. As the ball jumped and turned square, Gavaskar played one of the great Test innings. He battled on, finally being caught for 96 off one that leapt, technically one of the finest innings ever played, sure-footed and precise of strokeplay. This was to be the last time that Gavaskar was seen in the Test arena. If Bradman fell four runs short of a hundred average, Gavaskar fell four short of a hundred in his final Test innings. He finished with an unprecedented 10,122 runs at an average of 51.12 and 34 hundreds in 125 Tests, holding a record 108 catches for India until Rahul Dravid took more. He scored hundreds in each innings of a Test thrice, a record that was emulated by Ricky Ponting. Gavaskar’s feat included a century and double century in his fourth Test.

In one last display of brilliance, Gavaskar scored a magnificent 188 at Lord’s that summer in the MCC bicentenary match against the likes of Marshall and Richard Hadlee. His driving and cutting were models for youngsters to emulate, a superb exhibition of exquisite strokeplay.

Whenever Gavaskar is remembered there is immense nostalgia for his masterly technique. Yet his exemplary courage played an equal role in his huge success. Never were there so many fast bowlers as in the 1970s and 1980s. Gavaskar tamed nearly all of them. He scored 13 Test centuries against the West Indies, and let not anyone tell you that some of these were in his debut series, when their pace attack was not world-class, or during the Packer years when the greats had switched loyalties; for Gavaskar scored hundreds against them all - Roberts, Holding, Garner and Marshall.

Indeed he scored mountains of runs when pitted against almost all the other legendary pacemen: Sarfraz Nawaz, Imran Khan, Bob Willis, Jeff Thomson, Richard Hadlee, Ian Botham and Wasim Akram, among others. The only great he did not collar was Dennis Lillee, whom he faced in only three Tests. In the last of those he had got to 70 in the third Test at Melbourne in 1980-81 in an opening stand of 165 with Chetan Chauhan, but got infuriated at being given out leg-before to Lillee when he inside-edged the ball on to his pad.

That incident when he almost took Chauhan off the ground with himself was evidence of the proud performer that Gavaskar was. He had failed in all the previous five innings of the series. Now when he had fought hard and was on course towards that elusive hundred, and knew that he had been deprived by a poor umpiring decision, he exploded.

It was an aberration, as was that crawl in the first match of the World Cup at Lord’s in 1975; when he called the selectors “court jesters” in 1979; and when he wrote that vitriolic article against Bishen Singh Bedi during the Lord’s Test of 1990. Just as he stood up to the most frightening pace bowling, Gavaskar has always shown courage of conviction to stand by what he has felt is right. He stood up for Indian umpires against the condescending attitude of the English and Australians, displaying, not surprisingly, contempt for Australian umpiring. After three bad experiences with the Calcutta crowd, he refused to play in the 1986-87 Eden Gardens Test against Pakistan when on the threshold of his 10,000 runs. Offended by the officious behaviour and cricketing ignorance of a security guard at Lord’s, Gavaskar refused to accept membership of the MCC when it was first offered to him, calling it just another club. He has always stuck up for Indian players when they have been unfairly targetted by foreign media.

Having written extensively, including four books, been a commentator and presenter right since his retirement 24 years ago, and later actively associated with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and International Cricket Council (ICC), along with his tremendous achievements on the field, Gavaskar has perhaps been the most influential man in the game after Bradman.

(Author Indra Vikram Singh can be contacted on email singh_iv@hotmail.com).